November 4, 2009

Make Mine a Double!

It’s that time again. NaNoWriMo is going on as we speak. My gripe is, and always will be the month they chose for it. I have never worked a job where November isn’t a hugely busy month. Not only that, I don’t work in retail, which has to be brutal this time of the year. So, last year I did my month in October instead and managed to cross the finish line without any of the formal support provided by being an official participant. So naturally, I thought, “Why stop there?”

I have once again ignored the official structure of the program and set off on my own. Of course, if you really write that intensely you’re bound to have some pretty loose thoughts in there. Which brings me to gripe number two. 50,000 words is not a novel, especially when 10 to 15 thousand of them are probably going to have to be cut. So, I modified the contract in the book a bit.

I’m shooting for 100,000 words in two months. Am I crazy? Probably. But, there’s something to be said for exploiting momentum. Also, I have been outlining and thinking about the book for several months now. Blitz writing is as viable alternative as any in giving life to the vomit draft.

As you might imagine, I have to go now. I’ll let you know how it all turned out sometime in January.